Speeches

Mr. Pérez Alvise, I can't give you the time because you talked 30 seconds over and you also had time to talk. We have to be equal in terms of speaking time. Mr. Vandendriessche.

Mr Sieper, we have a blue card, but you are also registered for catch-the-eye. It's either that or catch-the-eye, not both. OK, we continue the mailing list, Mr. Złotowski Kosma.

Colleagues, we have received several requests for catch-the-eye, we are quite pressed with time, so I will close the catch-the-eye procedure. We have another hour of debate and we will see, depending on the remaining time, how many interventions will be possible. I'll take as many as I can.

Mr President, dear colleagues, we have a very long debate. This is my first time presiding. I extend my sympathy to flood victims across Europe and present Mr Agius Saliba for 2 minutes and 30 from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament.

Mr. President, Mr. Geoana, Mrs. Lasconi, Mr. Ciolacu, Mr. Ciuca, on November 24, a young student will travel nine hours to go home to vote for one of you. He's a young man you don't know because you're not used to talking to young people. He's probably a 12th grader who's going to vote for you for the first time. Did you know that he'll wake up at 6 o'clock on Monday to commute to school and come back in the evening for the occasion? What are you doing for him? You have never spoken to young people, to young people who are perhaps going to Pride demanding equal rights, to young people who are going to protest for the climate crisis, to those who are protesting today for Palestine. With them, when? When? When will you talk? The young man will tell you by vote that the scholarship is not enough for rent, that the state does not give him social housing. He will tell you that he doesn't have access to a stable job, he will tell you that he feels bad and he certainly can't afford to go to a psychologist. Will you believe him? Will you help him? Will you listen to him? Young people in Romania deserve support, respect, so do not ask for their vote. Give them respect!

Mr President, I cannot, as a Romanian, sit here in the European Parliament and accept what has been said in this debate. It's unacceptable! Mr Terheș of the AUR said that the ‘so-called right to abortion [...]’ spoke of the ‘so-called right to abortion’. What, I mean, the so-called right to abortion? What about the "so-called" victims, millions, who fell victim to communism and other extremist times, because people like him said it was a "so-called" right, and not a fundamental right of women. No one has to die for a picture. I'm a girl's father. There is pain in our schools. Because of an illegally circulated photo, people and young people end their lives. So I'm glad this directive stops cyber bullying, harassment and all these indifferences that are taking place today. And I'll say something else, to that far-right part of this room. Don't hate what you don't understand. Put away the transphobia. Let people be themselves as they are.

Mr President, "women are afraid of getting this guy psychotic, of killing him, of rape, of beating her, of getting her drunk, of stealing her, of kidnapping her, of arguing. Girl, let me give you a live location in case of anything." This is a song by Erika Isac, who revolted half of Romania and many women listened to her, some in headphones, scared not to hear a certain Mirel. They're lyrics that have awakened a society, and they're not just lyrics. It's not just lyrics, it's the truth. On March 1st and 8th, the same Mirel wakes up to give tulips to women, because the abuser knows best to apologize. What Mirel doesn't want to understand is that women don't want flowers, women want to be respected, they want to stop being abused, they don't want to walk in fear on the street, they want to have the right to abortion, to reproductive health, they want to decide for their body. Women are heard very little and I want to mention here the work done by associations such as FILIA, Anais, E-Romnja, Iele-Sânziene and many others. I want to support them. Women don't want flowers, they want rights.

Madam President, Mr President, Minister, Commissioner, today we are talking about the future of Europe and Romania and we want every peace, freedom, equality. Reality is not like that now. A lot of Romanians are still leaving the country. We don't have new hospitals and we have a poor population. Millions of young people don't know what to hope for in the future. If populism and extremism are not to increase, and you have said so yourself, democracy must go hand in hand with good living. Romanians and Bulgarians are still waiting in queues at customs and want to enter Schengen dignified and full this year. Mr President, thank you for your commitment to Ukraine and your Euro-Atlantic orientation. It is the right fight, but because your mandate and our mandate in the European Parliament are coming to an end, let us ask ourselves. What Romania do we leave behind for our young people? What Europe do we leave them? What did we plan to do in Sibiu, the city I come from? Let us put the future of young people at the heart of politics. Young people need to be listened to, heard, helped! I want to fight for a Romania that offers young people affordable housing, decent jobs, health services, including mental health. We need decent homes for the students now. Our future doctors, teachers, architects are studying in homes with dampness, with 4-5 in the same room. The future President of Romania, Mr. President, is today in such a home. How do we deal with him or her? What do we offer him or her? Let's also take care of the environment. I know you care about the environment and I care very much about this component and the whole Green family does. Like a Romania with greener cities, with fresh air, with fast trains? A Romania with healthy food and more respect for nature, soil, forests, bees and animals. I would like to leave to my little girl, who is four years old today, such a continent and such a country. Young people, and this is a very important idea, do not want to live in a country with the extreme right in power. Therefore, I ask you, Mr. President, not to allow a fascist government in Romania. We don't need a new referendum on hate. Europe loves human rights and the human right to love whomever it wants. And because we had a case here in the European Parliament, Romania must ensure, Mr. President, that it does not allow Russian agents to do politics for Romanians. Emil Cioran said “The past of Romania does not flatter me and I am not proud that my ancestors slept for so long in the expectation of freedom”. Today we are free. We don't expect freedom, but we won't give in to extremists either. We have what we need, we have resources, but above all we have the heart for a better Romania.

Mr President, family doctors in Romania are neither respected nor paid. Half of the 10 000 family doctors are over 60 years old, and still waiting for a post to be vacated, over 4 000 family doctors from Romania have gone abroad. And who can condemn them? Family doctors are on the front line, we go to them when we cough, as many of you do in this room, and when we have colds and other things, now, in the middle of winter. Health is more expensive than all of them, but apparently the government says it's expensive for money. They cut the budget, so you have to be lucky to get treated. They've created a practical quota for those who escape and for those who don't. Because with less money you can't treat as many people. I stand in solidarity with family doctors and ask the government to respect them, to pay them. They are when we suffer, including at night, when we call on the phone. Mr. Ciolacu, don't catch a cold, because no one will answer the phone!

Mr President, I kept looking at those young people upstairs who came to support Europe, but it's hard to support Europe when you don't have money in your pocket, when it's humiliating that you don't have a home, that your only home is the couch in your parents' house. A young man in Romania does not have the same conditions as in the West. Credit conditions are different, interest rates are very high, wages are very low. They've been promised that if they go to school, if they stick to school, if they work, they will have all these things and they don't have them until after 30 and maybe even later. So we need to lead by example at European level. I am thinking of the city of Vienna, which ensures that rents for young people are low, that rich people are not separated from poor people on the outskirts of cities, and I would even propose a wealth tax to finance the construction of social housing so that young people can have a larger social housing fund. I even tell the home minister, Mr Veștea, to invest all the money from the NRRP, as much money as possible from the NRRP, to have social housing. It is important for young people, because without them we do not build Europe, without them we lose Europe.

Madam President, in Romania, students are preparing for Christmas break, but they may be returning to some empty schools. This is because the Government's lack of respect for teachers has no limits. Tens of thousands of teachers took to the streets last summer and left only because they were promised to raise their salaries to dignified salaries by 40%. Students also demand that the man in front of them be respected, that they in turn respect him. As the deadline approached, we were curious to see what rabbit Prime Minister Ciolacu took out of his hat. Surprise, however, the promise made in the summer will not be kept: salaries will increase by 13%, only one third of what the Romanian Government promised them (if they increase). I urge the Romanian Government to keep its promises to teachers, because in this way they keep their promises to the future Romania, they keep their promises to educated Romania. Without it, we have no future.

Mr President, 6 700 dorm places, but 90 000 students. This is what happens in Cluj. It's like admitting to home, not college. What do young people do when they don't have room at home? I'm going to the free market, looking for a private rent. It starts somewhere around 400 euros. They're humiliated at first by the system, and then the real estate sharks take over. Have you heard of the garage made room? What about the disused bathroom? Advertisements of all kinds of cells and closets make the Internet a delight. It's just not funny. Young people suffer, they have anxiety, they have depression. From one basic thing: to have a place to live. I'll pay 500 euros for the rent. I have three other students with me. My family can support me, I'm lucky. Others have to work full time and go to college just to live. Aren't you ashamed that we say young people come to vote? If we want that, we should start by listening to them.

Madam President, Commissioner, 95% of young employees aged 18 to 30 are affected by mental health problems. That is, almost all of our children at the beginning of their careers. They go through many pressures that can lead to exhaustion and, in some cases, regrettably, suicide. In Romania, one third of Romanian employees are in burnout, but only 1% go to therapy, that is 7 people in this room. I'm one of them. I'm glad I can afford it. I'm glad I can go to therapy, because the cost is the big problem. I want you, Commissioner, to tell the Member States, to tell Romania that there is a need for a minimum number of therapy sessions settled by the Insurance House throughout Europe and in Romania. Let's help our young people! Let's give them free access to therapy and support and understanding from society, from employers, from everyone. Their mental health is the lifeblood of our European future.

Madam President, Commissioner, it used to be said that social networks democratise information, that journalists keep it all to themselves. Is that true today? Hasn't the situation returned to 180 degrees? How is it possible for a man like Elon Musk to say ‘this content is ok, this is not ok, here I leave, here I do not leave, here I give the internet, here I do not give the internet’? Especially when whole lives depend on it. How is it possible that no news can go beyond the filters and algorithms of Facebook, Twitter and so on, without paying a lot of money? So somehow they attracted us with cheap content and now they make us pay the most. European competition must intervene to get the truth to the people.

Mr President, Commissioner, rapporteur, first of all, I want you to do one thing for us, for the European Union, to tell Mr Kuhs, who has right now lied to us ‘that European money finances terrorism’, so to speak, and has not given a single example. I want you to defend the pride of the European Union and not let the lie travel twice around the planet until the truth puts on its shoes. Secondly, I want to send a message from here, from the lectern of the European Parliament, to the Romanian Government and I say this: Do not play with the destiny of the Russians. They deserve a better life. They deserve modern hospitals, equipped schools, roads without pits, green spaces. That is why the EU budget, the money that the EU gives, which are many, is EUR 80 billion from NRRPs, from European funds, agricultural subsidies, not to be wasted. I do not want this financial year to end and to see hospitals, regional hospitals, still in the model stage, as it is at my home in Sibiu. I want this European money not to go to political firms, to go to projects, to go to people. We're already in 2023 and we can't see anything. Start building hospitals, politicians! There is money. Now, let's all get to work!

Madam President, please allow me a point of order before I begin. Because Mr Hahn cannot speak at this session, I want to correct Mr Terheș, who is no longer here, because he always leaves. The EU does not pay for the book he showed. I know this very well as the responsible person for the budget of this year. Now please allow me to continue on the topic I prepared. It is important that we do not let fake news go unpunished in this House. Obții o bursă Erasmus. Tu, dintre sute de colegi. Te bucuri, apoi vin condițiile acelea scrise mic. Ești prea sărac pentru bursa obținută. Să mai mergi în Erasmus? Ca să ți se repete că nu ai cum să trăiești, că e imposibil să trăiești cu 500 de euro pe lună? Că ai nevoie de bani de la părinți sau de un extra job ca să mănânci? Așa arată astăzi proiectul de succes al Europei, cu milioane de studenți care mor de foame prin străinătate. Se descurcă cum pot sau stau 8-10 împreună în aceeași gazdă, doar ca să învețe ceva, să vadă cum e să studieze afară, să crească, să fie mai buni. Și asta e recompensa noastră, 500 de euro. Da, e minunat că avem Erasmus în Europa! Iubim cu toții Erasmus, dar hai să fie pentru toți tinerii, nu doar pentru cei de bani gata. Nu mă las, nu mă las până când bursele nu vor fi, nu 500 ca acum, ci măcar 1 000. Vreau egalitate pentru Erasmus acum!

Mr President, Commissioner, I would first like to send a message to the Romanian Government from 782 independent pharmacies asking for their outstanding bills to be paid. Brussels, we have a big problem: Not all patients are treated the same. A doctor in Romania waits on average two years longer than a doctor in Germany to be able to prescribe the newest and best medicine on the market. I think of my friends, Ion and Carmen, who are retired in Bucharest, and I don't want to know that they need something and we don't give them that medicine in time. Saving a life in Europe should not be a lottery based on where you were born in Europe. Mrs Kyriakides, in April you said that patients in Western countries have 90% access to the latest and best medicines, whereas in the East only 10%. Well, you have competences, you are Commissioner for Health, you also have competences for the Single Market. What did you guys do? What will you do so that everyone has access to the same medicines at the same time? Let's make Europe equal again. Let's make her healthy again.

Madam President, how did the academic year start? How? The government has already taxed students. Students in Iasi cannot travel for free by public transport, although they have this right by law. Even those in Bucharest could not, and those in Constanta are judging for this. Night of the mind. All sorts of administrative hens. They pay the children for transportation and the state returns the money to Saint Wait. The state borrows practically from the children of Romania. College started, but not the same for everyone. There are not enough places for dorms, rents are rudely high and do not offer conditions. Graduates struggle for years to find a decent job and that should not be black. Maybe, maybe one day they can afford a loan, a rate. This light at the end of the tunnel isn't even a rescue. For them, it's like a train hitting them head-on from the other direction. And you say you care about the future? So why don't we respect young people?

Madam President, Ion Buneci, Oprea Marian, Niţeanu Gheorghe - Romanian firefighters are heroes who are often neglected, but all this summer they put out fires in Greece, in Italy. The past few years have been in Sweden. During the pandemic, they intervened by bringing in sick people and were promised a premium that many of them still did not receive today. They are exposed to unimaginable risks, but not even a decent health insurance. Not to mention burn hospitals or the treatment of diseases they develop in their missions. We have strengthened European civil protection, now on the budget. But this European civil protection can no longer serve only as an emergency hospital that we enter when we can no longer. I propose today that firefighters participating in European climate or health actions should constantly benefit from European health insurance and, in addition, European bonuses for their missions. Thank you to all these heroes. I think it's worth our while.

Madam President, as we explain to Ana's grandfather the lung cancer she suffers from, although the man has never smoked, he does not have a medical history of this kind, but he lives in the most polluted city in Romania, in Bucharest. For days the inhabitants of Cluj-Napoca complained about the bad smells in the city. They come from a landfill that is non-compliant with European rules and in which more than EUR 40 million have been buried. Clean air is a right. It's not like the jukebox. It is not ‘pay to breathe’. With the European law we are voting on tomorrow, we want to force states to protect their citizens, to measure air quality in the world and, if there are exceedances, to take measures to punish those responsible. We have created the right for citizens to go to court for the first time in the history of the European Union. It's phenomenal. More importantly, we created the element of creating compensation for citizens, because they suffer from those microparticles that are in the air. You live healthy, but the air of your city is killing you right now because the authorities don't care, and some are stuffing their pockets on your lungs. I regret to say, but here too, in Parliament, there are colleagues who say one thing and do another and tomorrow they will vote to weaken this text, because for them, the citizen and his health are optional, they are not mandatory, and the right to breathe fresh air is a trifle. How much money and how much life do people have to pay? How much health should they give to breathe fresh air? I'm asking you. It's simple: You'll see tomorrow here in the hall, at this vote. We all deserve a clean European air.

Mr. President, I also want to thank the associations, the Association for Clean Energy, Now, the Students' League, who saved Romania's image this time. I would have liked there to be more of us in the room who are not Romanians and Bulgarians. We counted, we are 15 Romanians and Bulgarians. Thank you, Seán! Thank you, Anna! Thank you, Marc, for being with us. But this shows a problem, that we still do not know how to dialogue very well. I also want to reduce the level of expectations a bit, not because I don't want to enter Schengen with all my heart, but I also don't want to lie to the Romanians who are waiting for this decision every day. I do not want them to believe that immediately we will have a decision from the Court of Justice, because their destiny, the destiny of the Romanians, depends on the quality of the politicians who represent them, but also on the quality of the politicians who defend us here, in this European house. Because it's not fair for politicians like Nehammer or Rutte, who are now leaving politics, to decide that way about the destiny of millions of people. So, I really want Mr. Nehammer to hear us in this room tonight and do something, because Romanians deserve to be in Schengen.

In a few days, from Volunteers, hell descended to Earth, but old age is not a disease. Most of us get there and the state parks us on the edge of society, forgetting, stealing and hitting, as if rushing to the pit. But I'm afraid this situation is not isolated. I'm afraid it's the same for children in orphanages, for the sick in hospitals, for the elderly in other nursing homes. We can have the best programs, but if the poor are left behind and on the sidelines, Europe has the role to intervene where states fail. Today, I ask the European Commission to conduct an extended audit of all social projects financed with European money in Romania to check how elderly people, orphans and children are treated. We cannot allow the European money to end up exactly in the pockets of the aggressors. Shame on the administrator of Goda, the official Ţicu and the mayors Pandele and Negoiță, under whose noses the people were treated by some beasts.

Madam President, the droughts of 2022 have substantially reduced our crops. Winter was no better in Europe. Results: soil drought, low river flows and reduced water storage in reservoirs. Climate projections indicate that summers in southern and central Europe will become even drier and warmer over the course of our century, and the consequences will be devastating for the agricultural sector. It is already calculated that the economic losses are 9 billion now, on a growth scenario of 1.5 o, on a scenario of 2 we reach 31 billion, and on 3 we reach 45 billion. And there I wonder even about the future of the human species and the future of the European continent. But today's vote in the Environment Committee shows that politicians are still irresponsible and do not care about these scenarios. What they care about is these populist rhetoric that doesn't keep us warm and hungry. Let us be clear, without nature, we will have no future, we will have no clean water, responsible air and fertile soils, and we will have no people.

Madam President, I want it to be noted that I am completely with my colleagues and their unprecedented protest. I think there is a need for maternity and paternity leave in this institution. But tonight I wanted to talk to you about the situation of teachers in Romania, which is serious, and Ciuca and Ciolacu consider the teachers in Romania as those cells that they put in the state apparatus. We, the people, feel a cumbersome state, which considers us subjects and tells us ironically how we dare. They wanted to divide us, but the students stood by their teachers. The parents were with the teachers, only the government was against it. The political promises are not related to hunger and the truth is that many Romanians are doing it very hard now, parents are doing it hard with expenses, young people who do not have salaries and move away from home only after the age of 30, and teachers are at the bottom of society, so they arrived, as if to educate is almost the same as to clean shoes. We have strikes all over Europe, Madam President, and that reminds me of one thing: Democracy is important, but it is important to have water, food, energy, to have something to pay for it. I remember, in 1989, it was shouting: ‘We want milk for children!’ and then they shouted ‘Freedom!’. And Europe must give us that European dream back. Europe must help young people and teachers in Romania.

Mr President, "Boy, you're a jerk! You're a piece of garbage! Put the noose around your neck. You deserve to be beaten! You idiot! You fool! Traitor!” This is what online bullying looks like, to which we politicians are probably immune, but our children are not. An 18-year-old teenager was found hanged, and colleagues say he was no longer coping with so much humiliation. A girl was subjected to indescribable shaming, with a picture taken illegally from the toilet and posted virally on social networks. Today, the Golden Party brought young people to the Romanian Parliament with bullets, as if mocking the massacre in Serbia. These are not isolated cases. This is a European epidemic of bullying. Romania is third in terms of bullying. The public system has so far failed, unfortunately, and I can even say that it has encouraged it. I want to tell the kids something. Don't be ashamed! Talk about it! If they don't listen to you at home, talk to a psychologist, a teacher, talk to us here in the European Union, because we understand and listen to you. But you're not alone. Bullies are always defeated. That's what you need to remember.